My Daddy Hides His Power - Chapter 56

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Father hiding his true strength
56
“I’m… I’m sorry….”
I apologized in a voice no louder than an ant’s and carefully pushed myself up.
Cheshire rose to his feet after me.
“…Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine…. Are you?”
“Me too.”
The moment turned awkward in an instant.
A kiss… a real kiss on the lips… with a man who wasn’t Father. Me.
I glanced over and saw that Cheshire was equally embarrassed. He deliberately avoided my gaze and said nothing.
I felt wronged.
Was this my fault?
“It’s because you kept avoiding me like that! This flower—this one!”
I pointed to the flower Cheshire had clutched in his hand even in the midst of the disaster.
“You bought this for me, didn’t you?”
“…Yeah.”
“Then give it to me!”
Cheshire hesitated, his lips pressed thin, before handing over the flower.
A single bloom with small violet petals clustered like fairy wings.
My heart melted at once.
“It’s so beautiful. What kind of flower is it?”
“…Aristate.”
“What, what did you say? This is Aristate?”
I was startled.
A passage from the original work flashed through my mind.
On some day in May, a bundle of Aristate would always sit in a vase on Enoch’s desk.
“What significance does that flower hold?”
Four years after he first noticed the Aristate, Cheshire finally asked out of curiosity.
“Today is my daughter’s birthday.”
“…I see.”
“Aristate is her Birth Flower.”
That scene—the image of Enoch yearning for his daughter—had torn at my heart.
When I read it, they only said “some day in May,” so I didn’t know the exact date….
Aristate’s day was May nineteenth.
My Birth Flower.
My chest suddenly ached anew.
Cheshire was a man who knew how to move a woman’s heart….
“I’m really grateful…. This is the nicest gift I’ve ever received.”
Cheshire stared at me intently.
The embarrassment had faded. Before he could run away again, I quickly threw my arms around him.
“Come with me. All right? Sing me a birthday song.”
* * *
A modest birthday party arranged in the restaurant.
I looked at each member of my family gathered around the round table, singing to me.
Grandfather, who had grumbled about the inconvenience of a birthday party but came anyway….
Aunt, who had grown a hundred times more beautiful now that Theo was well and her worries had lifted….
My twin brothers, who had gifted me a newly-made Princess Lala dress and tiara thanks to their wealth….
And Cheshire, and—
“Lilis, now blow out the candles!”
my beloved father.
“All right!”
I clutched the Aristate Cheshire had given me and blew out the seven candles stuck in the cake with a quick breath.
“Hooray! Happy birthday to our princess!”
“Happy birthday, Lilis.”
“Happy birthday, little one!”
“Happy birthday, Lilis! Don’t cry—why are you crying?”
“Sniff… thank you all so much….”
Tap!
Ding—!
Just then, Grandfather and Aunt both placed something on the table simultaneously.
And they regarded each other with solemn intensity.
‘What, what is it?’
Beneath Grandfather’s large hand lay a rolled sheet of paper.
What Aunt had placed down was a blue velvet jewelry box.
“Go ahead. Open it first,” Grandfather said.
Aunt opened the jewelry box.
Light poured out all at once.
The brilliance was so intense I had to raise my arm to shield my eyes.
“Oh, but—”
I’d thought it was some blinding spell, but it wasn’t. Instead, a diamond the size of a king’s orb was radiating the light.
A 100-carat diamond at the very center, with teardrop-shaped diamonds of various sizes hanging down at intervals throughout—
A three-tiered chain necklace, no less!
It looked like the sort of thing that would be displayed in a museum with a placard reading “Medieval Royalty’s Utterly Extravagant Luxury Goods.”
“Goodness. How is the princess supposed to wear that now, sister? Her neck would snap off,” Father said, shaking his head as he cut the cake.
He waved his head back and forth dubiously.
“It’s 100 carats, Lilis.”
“I, I, I can see that….”
“I was planning to have it resized so you could wear it about now, but that would mean using fewer stones and the design would be terribly difficult to choose. Keep it for now, and wear it to your Debutante Ball. Everyone will envy you.”
No matter how I thought about it, this was not a gift befitting a seven-year-old.
But I couldn’t disappoint Aunt’s expectant gaze, so I accepted the jewelry box with clouded eyes.
“Thank you so much, Aunt! It’s so, so beautiful! I’ll keep it safe and use it later when I’m older!”
“Hehe, yes.”
By this point, I’d begun to dread Grandfather’s gift.
It was just a single sheet of paper that looked relatively humble, but surely its contents couldn’t possibly be humble….
‘Please, anything but a Land Deed.’
“It’s a Land Deed.”
Dear heavens. Grandfather had utterly crushed my hopes.
“I purchased the Parman River region in the Eastern Region, and it turned out to be about 100 acres.”
“My, if it’s Parman riverland, the property value must be astronomical,” Father said.
As he distributed cake to everyone’s plates, he shook his head once more in disbelief.
This was… this wasn’t quite right.
Cold sweat broke out across my skin as I waved my hands.
“Grandfather, this is a bit….”
“It’s perfect for horseback riding. Jedo is too cramped, after all. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you and Cheshire rode out there often?”
What? My ears perked up.
When I glanced at Cheshire, he looked equally shocked. His ears flushed pink and he quickly lowered his head.
‘A playground of over a hundred thousand square meters where Zephyr and Cheshire and Walter and I can run about freely?’
Gulp.
I swallowed hard.
My vision began to blur.
Was I really becoming a third-generation chaebol corrupted by capitalism?
“Th-thank you, Grandfather. I’ll make sure to come first in horseback riding next year too!”
In the end, I compromised with my greed….
“But Cheshire, you didn’t bring a gift for Lilis?”
Leon asked, popping a strawberry from the cake into his mouth.
I quickly held up the Aristate flower.
“I got a flower here!”
“Huh. That’s all?”
Leon, you idiot. Your lack of tact is astonishing.
“This is enough for me….”
“Here.”
“…Huh?”
A box suddenly appeared before me, thrust forward.
Cheshire, embarrassed, avoided meeting my eyes.
“Open it quickly!” Theo urged.
I carefully opened the box.
Inside it—
There was—
“Oh….”
A cute little rabbit-shaped coin purse.
And inside it was the Lala Princess Magic Wand!
“Pffahahaha! You’ve got the complete Lala Princess collection head to toe, you little thing!”
“Wow, our princess has all the luck.”
How did she even buy the magic wand? It must have cost more than the Princess Lala’s Shoes.
I pulled out the gift with trembling hands.
A small card beneath it tumbled to the ground.
[Happy birthday.]
Just a simple wish.
Nothing special, yet the bridge of my nose burned.
“Thank you, Cheshire….”
And when I flipped the card over with a sniffle, without thinking.
Small letters caught my eye.
[Thank you.
Being next to you feels just like heaven.]
“Oh….”
“What is it, our princess? You look so moved. What did Cheshire write in the letter?”
“It’s nothing!”
I clutched the card tight and took a deep breath—in and out, in and out.
Being next to you feels just like heaven.
The moment I saw that single line, pressed so carefully onto the card as if he’d agonized over every word, I couldn’t hold back.
It moved me far more than a hundred words ever could.
“Uu….”
“Y-Your Highness?”
“Waaaaahhh.”
In the end, I burst into tears.
* * *
“Sniff.”
“So you’re really not going to tell your father what was written?”
“Nope. I’m keeping it to myself.”
“Tsk.”
After crying for a long while, my eyes swollen and puffy, I took Father’s hand as the sun began to set and went outside.
Father said he had a magnificent gift to show me and led me to some secluded corner of the garden.
“W-Whoa…?”
I gasped.
Hanging securely from a thick tree branch was
a swing!
“Hahahaha! This is what the princess wanted, isn’t it?”
“Y-You’ve got to be kidding!”
Clutching the magic wand Cheshire had given me, bouncing on my toes, I rushed over and sat down on the swing.
“This is unbelievable!”
When we lived in Jenon, our front yard was too cramped to hang a swing.
I’d envied Jimmy’s swing in his neighbor’s yard so much.
I used to go over there begging to ride it, but selfish Jimmy would only let me on for five minutes, saying it was his.
I’d been so frustrated and hurt that I’d cried over it….
“Do you like it?”
“I do! I do! I love it so much!”
This swing was twice as big as Jimmy’s—Father and I could sit side by side with room to spare.
“Hehehehe. Thank you, Father. You’re really the best.”
“Then give me a kiss.”
I kissed Father’s right cheek and left cheek alternately, about ten times, then said:
“Push me!”
“Alright.”
Since my feet didn’t yet touch the ground, Father pushed the swing for me.
“Wheeeee!”
The cool spring breeze of early evening tousled my hair.
“Princess.”
“Yes?”
“Are you happy?”
I turned to look at Father.
And seeing Father’s grinning face, I answered with all my strength.
“I’m so happy!”
“Ahahaha.”
The original story had barely begun.
There was still a long way to go before everyone could truly find happiness.
I couldn’t guarantee how the terrifying original narrative would change now that I’d survived and stood at Father’s side.
But in this moment, I was simply, purely happy.
“Father is happy because the princess is happy. My dear princess, Father will make you happy every single day from now on.”
“…Yes, hehe. Me too.”
Goodness. I looked ready to cry at any second.
Was I a walking tear dispenser?
“Me too, Father…”
Suddenly, I noticed small letters carved into the armrest of the swing.
“Father…”
Ah… why would Father write something like that? It really brings tears to my eyes.
Sniffling, I held back my tears and nestled into Father’s arms.
“…I’ll make you happy too, Father. Just trust me.”
“Pahahaha, Father is already so happy just watching our princess grow big and strong.”
“Okay, I’ll try. I’m sleepy now, so let’s go to bed.”
“Sleepy? All of a sudden?”
“Yes.”
Father lifted me into his arms. I quietly wiped away the tears that had spilled onto his shoulder.
I’d cried so much today.
I shouldn’t cry anymore.
[My everything, my whole world.
No matter how harsh the wind may blow,
Father will protect you.]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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